1,721,062 research outputs found
The history of von Hippel-Lindau disease.
No full textvon Hippel-Lindau (vHL) disease is a heritable multisystem cancer syndrome that is associated with a germ line mutation of the vHL tumor suppressor gene on the short arm of chromosome 3. Affected individuals are at risk of developing various benign and malignant tumors of the central nervous system, kidneys, adrenal glands, pancreas, and epididymis. The name of this disease derives from two prestigious European physicians, Eugen von Hippel and Arvid Lindau, but many others played an important part in the description of the disorder. vHL disease has an old and modern history, thanks to the advent of new radiology and molecular biology diagnostic techniques
Relationship of gender, age, and body mass index to errors in predicted kidney function
No full textBackground. Previous studies have shown conflicting data on accuracy of equations for kidney function prediction. The present work analysed the relationship of gender, age and body mass index (BMI) to error of predictions by the Cockcroft–Gault equation (CGeq), the simplified equation of the Modification of Renal Diseases Study (MDRDeq) and the Mayo Clinic equation (Mayoeq).
Methods. Inulin clearance (glomerular filtration rate; GFR) and other variables were measured in 380 subjects of both sexes, aged 18–88 years, with and without kidney disease. GFR was defined as low when <60 ml/min x 1.73 m2. BMI was used for definition of underweight/overweight. Relative error of predictions was used as an index of bias. It was calculated as prediction minus GFR (positive values =overestimates, negative values = underestimates) and expressed as a percentage of the GFR. Absolute error was used as an index of imprecision and was calculated as the absolute value of relative error.
Results. CGeq relative error was inversely associated with age and directly associated with BMI (P<0.001), but not with gender or GFR. MDRDeq relative error was inversely associated with female gender and GFR (P<0.001), but not with age or BMI. Mayoeq relative error was directly associated with male gender, BMI and GFR (P<0.01), but not with age. Absolute error was higher for CGeq than for MDRDeq but only at low GFR (P<0.001). Mayoeq had a higher absolute error than CGeq and MDRDeq (P<0.01).
Conclusions. Errors of predictions varied not only with GFR but also with gender, age and BMI. Without using creatinine assay calibration, Mayoeq was less accurate than both MDRDeq and CGeq, whereas MDRDeq was slightly more precise than CGeq but only at low GF
Disease of the kidney and of the urinary tract in De Medicina Methodica (Padua, 1611) of Prospero Alpini (1563-1616)
No full textAIM: The study was devised to understand the contribution to nephrology ofDe Medicina Methodicaof Prospero Alpini published in 1511, at a time when the fame of the professor reached the azimuth.
METHOD: We have analyzed the contents of chapters devoted to nephrology in that book of Prospero Alpini and the novelties of his message.
RESULTS: Prospero Alpini (1563-1616) taught at the University of Padua (1594-1616), at the same time of Galileo Galilei, Santorio Santorio, and Girolamo Fabrizi dAcquapendente, when measurements (pulse, temperature, perspiration) were introduced into medicine. He was a travelling physician to whom we owe fundamental contributions to the use of urine to prognosticate life and death (De Praesagienda vita et morte aegrotantium libri septem, Venetiis, apud Haeredes Melchioris Sessae,1601). As prefect of the Botanical Garden - the first ever and a model in the world - he could turn the study of simples into cures(De Medicina Methodica Libri Tredecim. Patavi, apud Franciscum Bolzettam, 1611. Ex typographia Laurentij Pasquali, is anin foliovolume of XLVII + 424 pages, 54 lines per page), wherein Alpini aimed to rejuvenate antique medical Methodism. It is a testimony of the interest of medicine philosophers of the modern era for the corpuscular and atomic ideas (Nancy Siraisi). Methodists (2ndCentury BC) refused anatomy and physiology as unique guidelines to the interpretations of diseases and gave importance to the development of a pharmacological science and alternative medicine. The book begins with a 3 page letter to Francis Maria della Rovere Duke of Montefeltro, and a 2 page letter to the readers. We discuss the novelties of the chapters on renal colic (de dolorerenum), hematuria (de sanguinis profluvium), pyuria, anuria (de urina suppressa) and its cure, polyuria (de urina profluvio), renal abscesses, hydrops and its treatment by skin incisions. We also analyze the chapter on kidney and bladder stones (Book X, Chapter XVIII, pp. 354-356) - a masterpiece of scholarly teaching - encompassing localization of stones, their formation and shape, renal colic and its irradiation according to the site and gender, the best antalgic position to pass stones, the use of laxatives, cathartics, warm baths, the plants to be used, their preparation and quality, the waters to be drank and their quantity (up to 15 pounds a day), the removal of bladder stones without surgery (methods learned in Cairo and described in Aegyptyan Medicine), and lithotomy and its feasibility even in old people.
CONCLUSION: De Medicina Methodicawas a modern monograph devoted to clinical medicine including urinary disease. The book reflected the polyhedral personality of the author, his experience as physician of the Republic of Venice at Cairo, and his capabilities as a director of the Botanical Garden of the University of Padua, a unique research centre in those times
- …
